Small actions become big wins
I've written before about how data accretes, the idea that over time, we accumulate more and more data that becomes increasingly useless over time.
While this is a never-ending challenge of data management, another truism is that small wins accumulate over time. In other words, one of the ways to combat the accretion of data is to continually and consistently work at keeping the data clean.
What I see too often is a one "big push" effort every couple of years (or longer!) to clean up the data. The result is that, for some short period of time, the data is clean, but for most of its life, the data is pretty messy.
Instead, get into the habit of weeding the garden. Take small actions every day or every couple of days, to keep the accretion of data at bay. Over time, small actions turn into big wins.
Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives
It doesn’t have to be optimal to be beneficial
It doesn’t have to be optimal to be beneficial I’m a big fan of the […]
Look for small wins
Look for small wins One of the toughest things about system implementation is simply how […]
Are you closing the loop?
Are you closing the loop? If your association does a call for presentations for any […]
Declare victory and move on
Declare victory and move on The law of diminishing returns is the point at which the […]
Clean as you go
Clean As You Go A good cook or baker knows that, when working in the […]
Baby Steps
One of the keys to developing good data management habits is to be aware of […]
Success Requires Discipline
When it comes to data management, most of us know what to do; we just don’t […]
Take a moment to be grateful
Because we’re so focused on always improving what we have now, it’s easy to overlook […]
KPIs and Dashboards
I saw DJ Muller from MemberClicks speak on KPIs (key performance indicators). In his session […]
Documenting Process is Critical
When it comes to managing data successfully, process is critical. For example, a client of […]